Due to recent events of the student on our campus being arrested for driving drunk on UTCs’ campus, I am going to voice my opinion on the situation.
To start off, the young man was 20 years old drinking in a bar. I am assuming he either knew the bartender or he had a fake ID. When it comes to fake IDs, most of the time, you can tell they are fake. For some reason, the people providing the alcohol just do not care enough to really check.
This student was walking around with a beer in his hand after he left the bar and actually got stopped by an officer. What ever happened to public intoxication? The officer let him go and let him keep his beer. Seriously? This officer may have just been nice and not wanting any problems, or maybe the kid lied to him. Who knows, but the officer should have poured out the beer in my opinion.
The kids who filmed the video should have gone and talked to the officer and informed him that he was attempting to drive. So this video was all filmed on Snapchat. For those who are reading this are not aware of what Snapchat really is, it is an app for your phone where you can send pictures or videos that only last 10 seconds or less. A group of what seems like three people actually followed the kid around campus and downtown filming his adventure or so to speak. They recorded him getting in his car they recorded him walking around downtown and followed him.
At this point in the video, I was getting very frustrated and upset not because of the kid, but because of the people filming. According to the Times Free Press, the person who posted the video to YouTube apparently called the police for 40 minutes. Back to the story: the 20-year-old got in his car and made it to campus. When I said made it to campus, I mean he drove on campus where cars are not supposed to be. He ran a stop sign and almost hit someone else. It was not until he got on campus and went down stairs and broke railing that the police actually got there and did something.
Okay, time for my view on the situation.
The kids who took time out of their night to follow this guy and watch him embarrass himself in my opinion were just as much in the wrong. Why could they not go up to the guy and say, “Hey, let me give you a ride back to campus or call someone to get you.” From the video, they seemed to find the whole situation funny. What would have happened if he hit someone or even got hurt himself? They would have had it on video? Congratulations you guys made a video that most of our campus finds it funny. I am over seeing and hearing people talking about how stupid he was or how funny the video was. The student who did this could have gotten hurt or hurt someone else. They could have not let him drive. They could have helped him and none of this would have happened.
I am a little biased on the situation due to my dad being hit by a drunk driver and actually being killed due to this. I wish someone would have stopped the person driving the other car. Many people think that they are okay to drive, but you can tell if they are or not. They may not listen to you or insist they are okay to drive. Don’t get me wrong this whole situation started from the 20-year-old taking the drink and making that decision to get behind the wheel and drive. My opinion is that the people who spent all that time following could have went and asked the kid where he lives and they could have insisted on giving him a ride home and none of this would have happened.
Watch the video to better understand. (The initial YouTube video was removed by the original poster.)
